Dead leaves and whatnot littered the forest floor, rustling against the wind. A lone man sat against the trunk of a gigantic tree, his eyes half-lidded as he lit up his cigar and brought it up to his mouth. He heard another rustle in the wind, pausing momentarily before shrugging his shoulders. Must've been an animal or something, perhaps a lonely wolf that had strayed too far from its pack. Barely anyone would venture so deep into the forest besides him anyway, so it was a nice, quiet place for him to escape reality, even if it was just for the quickest of moments.

He took another slow drag from his cigarette, not noticing the pair of scarlet eyes watching him from a distance. The forest grew silent, and he felt a rush of wind escape his lungs. Another second passed, and he lifted his head up to face this seemingly ethereal person in front of him, realising that one of her hands was on his throat. He dropped his cigar, and she watched the brown in his eyes liquify into pure, unadulterated fear.

Moonbyul pressed her fingers against her struggling victim's lips, as if attempting to console him. She shook her head, a breathy sigh escaping her lips as her digits dug further into his throat. "Sorry," she whispered rather soothingly, but not before telling the man to close his eyes. Surprisingly, he complied, and she instantly snapped his neck, granting him a quick and painless death.

The red in her eyes flared, as she drank from the motionless body, and the urge in for blood finally subsided. Unlike other vampires that might enjoy mindless killing to show how powerful they were, she preferred to leave behind a clean body, one that will most probably be labeled as an 'accident' by investigators.

It wasn't as if she was the most innocent vampire back then, but she had slowly began to appreciate human life, thanks to Wheein and Hwasa.

She hated humans, she did.

But she hated herself more.

Wiping the ends of her lips with the back of her hand, she slowly placed the body onto the floor of the forest, feeling a sense of guilt wash over her body. Her ears perked up and she instantly whirled around, another pair of scarlet eyes meeting hers. She instinctively growled towards the other vampire, her body locking itself into a defensive position. One that meant,  "You really don't want to be here," to other vampires. She sniffed the air once again, and in a sigh of relief, for it was simply her covenmate Wheein.

"I'm surprised that you, of all people, didn't notice me," Wheein started, walking past the tall trees and coming face-to-face with her coven leader. The stern look on her face shifted to concern, a crease appearing on her eyebrows. "Hwasa and I have noticed that you're acting really weird recently. It's not like you to be this... unaware of your surroundings. You've also been drinking a lot more blood than usual."

"... I'm thirsty."

"You know that's not it, Moonbyul. Tell me what's wrong, maybe I can help."

"It's complicated. I'd rather not talk about it," Moonbyul replied. "Look, I have a class party coming up, and I gotta be there."

Wheein's eyebrows tilted up, her expression softening. It wasn't like Moonbyul to be this stubborn, and after years of knowing her, she knew that if Moonbyul didn't want her to pry, she really shouldn't attempt to. "You'll tell me, right?"

"Maybe when I've figured it out," the taller girl said in barely a whisper, tugging at the brown leather strap of her watch.

Wheein saw the rustle of leaves, some hitting her side, and in a deep breath as she watched Moonbyul's silhouette silently fade away into the distance.

"Moonbyul, you're here!"

A small smile crept upon her face when she saw Eric waving towards her, motioning for her to walk through the open door. She pushed through the crowd of her classmates, grimacing as a hand nearly smacked into her face. She sent a sharp glare towards the unfamiliar girl, who meekly mouthed an apology.

"Nice goal that day, Eric."

"I wouldn't have done it without my team," he replied, a certain sweet tone to his voice. "I also wouldn't have done it without everyone supporting us that day."

Eric, Moonbyul had to admit, was the star of the football game that day, when he had scored the last winning goal at nearly the last second before the time was up. This meant a victory for them against their rival school, which they apparently haven't beaten in almost ten years. Despite the security's efforts, nearly everyone had climbed over the fence separating the field and the seating area, to celebrate the win with the football team. Which was exactly why Eric decided to hold a party for the victory, inviting the class, his team, and the teachers.

Moonbyul nodded, mentally wincing when the same pang of aromatic scent hit her straight in the face.  "I literally just drank a moment ago," she silently reasoned with herself, feeling a sense of fiery urge claw itself up . Holding her breath, her eyes flitted across the room, scanning it in barely a second, matching faces with names.

Miss Kim was in the corner, speaking with their homeroom teacher, who was obviously smitten with her. Well, obviously, since she was gorgeous, even when wearing something as simple as a plain white tee, along with a pair of bell-bottom jeans. It accentuated her figure, not to mention how amazing her face looked like even without makeup.

She pretended to take no notice of her, quickly turning away when Miss Kim's soft gaze landed on her.

"We're going to play spin the bottle now, join us!" Eric motioned towards Moonbyul with a green bottle, for her to form the circle along with the rest of the others, aside from the teachers of course, who were sitting in the corner, conversing between themselves.

She wasn't really into party games, but whatever, she'd might as well not be a wet blanket since she was here.

"Sure," she replied, watching Eric's face light up like a christmas tree. Jeez, that boy really did have a bright smile.

"Ladies' first," Eric chuckled, handing the bottle to one of the girls, Hani, before sitting down in the circle opposite of Moonbyul.

Moonbyul watched as the bottle spun in the middle, praying hard that it didn't land on her.

Thank goodness, because it didn't.

At least for the first few spins.

Questions of all types were thrown around, from amusing to cliche, to downright . Answers were given, and some of them, she had to admit, pretty much shocked her.

The bottle was spun once again, and she shook her head with an upturned grimace as the tip of the bottle slowly arrived to a stop as it pointed at her. Her classmates around her grinned and whistled, as the one who spun the bottle thought of a question to ask.

"Do you believe in love at first sight?"

"That's so boring!" her classmates chorused, many of them jokingly rolling their eyes.

"Leave me alone guys, I can't think of any questions!"

Moonbyul pondered for a moment, the edges of her lips turning up into a small smile. "I don't," she shook her head.

"Well, it's your turn to spin the bottle!" her classmate reminded, tossing her the green bottle.

She caught it with ease, glancing over towards Miss Kim before giving the bottle a hard spin. It turned and turned, and everyone watched in anticipation on who would be its next victim.

Eric.

The chrome-haired girl raised her eyebrows a little, and a question that had been lingering at the back of her mind popped up. She knew it wasn't her business, but some part of her wanted to know anyway. She turned to Eric, who mimicked her expression and pursed his lips.

"Do you like someone, and are they in this room?" she blurted.

After years of mingling with humans, you get to notice their little quirks and expressions, and she could tell when someone was feeling a certain emotion, just by reading their body movement.

Even though he was sitting down, his neck tensed, his jaw clamped, his shoulders squared, even the lopsided grin he had cracked a little.

"He's feeling tense," she thought to herself, narrowing her eyes just a tiny bit.

The chocolate-haired boy rubbed the back of his nape, an evident shade of cherry-blossom pink staining his face and ears. "I do have someone I like."

"And is she in this room?"

He paused, and interlocked his fingers. His brow creased, and he glanced over to the corner of the room, the bright smile on his face was now a meek one. "Yes, she is."

The room erupted into chaos, now knowing that one of the more popular students in the school had indirectly confessed to his crush, even though they had no idea who she was.

"Guys, only one question is allowed!" he laughed meekly, attempting to drive away the attention.

Moonbyul felt her fist clench, her joints turning white as she turned to the direction in which Eric had glanced at.

Although no one had noticed, she had.

He was staring at Miss Kim.

And Miss Kim was staring back at him, an eyebrow raised with a half-hearted smile, while their homeroom teacher, Mr. Lee, was yapping away, attempting to get her attention.

"I guess that's the answer," Moonbyul chewed on the bottom of her lip, deciding to take a water break. "I'm going to get some drinks," she mentioned out loud, to no one in particular. While the rest of the class was still trying to get him to spill who he had a crush on, she silently made her way to the drinks table, pouring herself a cup of questionably diluted fruit juice. She brought the paper cup to , biting down on its edge. Hard, but not too hard. She didn't want to break the paper and spill anything on her expensive leather jacket. She in a breath, and placed the cup down before sliding the jacket down her shoulders, placing it carefully on the table beside her.

Weird that she didn't want to spill fruit juice on her jacket, but blood wasn't a problem.

Guess it was just a vampire thing.

As she mingled with her thoughts, she felt a smooth arm brush against hers, and she instinctively frowned at the person that had broken her train of thought. A bolt of electricity flew through her body, and again, the blazing thirst in subsided. Realising that she was looking down at Miss Kim, her expression broke, and she whirled around, finding herself staring at the wall instead of the lady beside her.

"Uh-"

"You're cold. You should put your jacket back on," the brunette chuckled. Moonbyul watched her slender, nimble fingers pick up a cup. Her nails were painted matte black, a shade that seemed to contrast that bubbly personality of hers, Moonbyul noted.

"I'm not cold," Moonbyul replied flatly. She didn't want to seem rude, but then again, she wasn't exactly feeling right after hearing Eric's answer. "Am I?" a small smile crept up the side of her lips, which didn't go unnoticed by Miss Kim. Vampires were indeed a few degrees below regular human body temperature, but nothing too drastic. They would just blame it on the air conditioning, sometimes.

"Do you have a fever?" Miss Kim suddenly uttered, turning around and placing her hand on Moonbyul's forehead. The sudden contact made Moonbyul jerk back, and Miss Kim's hand quickly fell back to her side.

She could still feel the exhilaration that filled her entire body just from a single touch. She took in a sharp breath in an attempt to steady herself from what had just happened. The area that Miss Kim had touched her was still lingering, and she needed a moment to reconcile herself.

"Are you sick? Do you need someone to send you home?"

"I'm not," Moonbyul assured, shooting a quick, uneasy grin at the brunette. "It's just the air-conditioning."

She watched silently, paying no mind to the sounds of her classmates in the background as Miss Kim nodded, and poured herself a cup of fruit juice.

"Your fingers felt pretty cold the other day too, y'know."

Great, now it was getting awkward for the both of them.

In an attempt to save the slowly dying conversation, a thought crossed Moonbyul's mind. For some reason, this woman drew her in like a bee to a flower, and she really wanted to spend more time with her, regardless of how much dislike she had for humans. Then again, since when did she ever act normal around Miss Kim? Never. And it pissed her off a little, to say the least.

"Miss Kim, I have a few math concepts I don't understand," she gritted her teeth, and presented her loveliest smile to Miss Kim. Miss Kim's eyes glassed over, and Moonbyul heard her in a deep breath. "Would you mind teaching me?"

Miss Kim's eyes flickered, but seemed to snap out of it at the last moment. "Sure," she began, and Moonbyul eyed her as she paused for a moment. "I'm free tomorrow afternoon, if you want to pop by and ask me some questions?"

"Tomorrow it is then, Miss Kim."

"Miss Kim?"

Moonbyul tilted her eyebrows up, a small furrow appearing on her forehead. Miss Kim could obviously tell she was confused, because she faked a pout, which turned into a playful grin after.

"It's Yongsun, remember?"

"There's other people here," Moonbyul mumbled with an unreadable expression, tapping her finger against the paper cup in her hand. "Yongsun."

Yongsun seemed satisfied enough, and took a sip of fruit juice from her cup.

"Mr. Lee seems to be extremely enticed by your presence," Moonbyul snickered, a pretencious fake accent pouring out from her lips.

"He likes me," Yongsun replied. "I don't, though."

"Why? He seems like a nice enough guy. I think he really likes you." Moonbyul probed around for an answer, one that she was hoping to get. "Unless you're dating someone else?"

Yongsun kept quiet for a while, her lips hesitating as they parted.

"It's not that."

"Then what?"

Moonbyul knew that she wasn't supposed to ask so many questions about someone's private life, someone she had barely met and known, but the same voice inside of her told her that she really, really wanted an answer.

The corners of Yongsun's lips turned up into a lopsided smile, but she had an unreadable expression in her eyes. She began to chuckle, although it was a rather empty one, Moonbyul noticed.

"I'm interested in someone else."